IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

The South African formal business sector generated R2,17 trillion in turnover in the third quarter of 2016. To put this into perspective, imagine if you drew this amount in R200 bills and went about giving away a bill every second. It would take 344 years to get rid of all the bills in this way!   read more »

Municipalities in South Africa spent a total of R73,1 billion during the September quarter of 2016. Stats SA’s latest Quarterly Financial Statistics of Municipalities report1 provides an overview of how this money was spent. More than half of municipal expenditure during the September 2016 quarter was on two items: electricity (28,0%) and employee-related costs (27,8%).   read more »

Despite a drop in the number of tourists visiting South Africa, the tourism industry continued to create jobs in 2015. Stats SA’s latest release of its Tourism Satellite Account for South Africa report provides an overview of tourism’s contribution in terms of employment, its impact on the gross domestic product (GDP) and spending. The number   read more »

Come join us as we tell a story of South African business performance over time. There are three elements to this story, taken from Stats SA’s latest Annual financial statistics (AFS) report1: income, expenditure and profit. First, let’s explore income. The income generated by the formal business2 sector has increased consistently, except for the dip   read more »

Local government elections, increased mining of iron ore, water restrictions and reduced electricity consumption. Find out more about these, as well as other factors, that influenced economic growth in the third quarter. The South African economy grew by 0,2%1 quarter-on-quarter (compared with 3,5% in the second quarter), according to estimates of real gross domestic product.   read more »

Economic growth can be reported in a number of different ways. Annual growth, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year are terms that are commonly used in the context of gross domestic product (GDP). What do these terms mean? In preparation for Stats SA’s next release of GDP data on 6 December, this article explores the different ways in   read more »

With the income tax return deadline looming, you might be wondering how important your tax contributions have been. A recent report by Stats SA provides an answer. The South African government earned R1,22 trillion in income during the 2014/15 fiscal year, according to Stats SA’s latest Financial statistics of consolidated general government report1. If this   read more »

To bean or not to bean – a look at the price of your cup of coffee   Coffee. The lifeblood of many. The cup that jumpstarts your morning. The lack thereof creates zombies in offices across the world daily. The joys of drinking coffee are beautifully expressed in Johann Sebastian Bach’s Coffee Cantata, which   read more »

Recently released data from Stats SA provide fresh insight into South Africa’s manufacturing industry. In 2014, Stats SA conducted a large sample survey of the industry, covering about 15 000 enterprises. The results of the survey – containing detailed information on income, employment, capital expenditure, salaries and production – were recently published in two reports: Manufacturing   read more »

School feeding programmes contribute to the well-being and education of children, according to the United Nations World Food Programme1. Stats SA takes a look at data on hunger in South Africa and explores the reach and cost of South Africa’s National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). South Africans are less hungry than they were 13 years   read more »